Some Things are Meant to be Left Behind
by outindaworld12
Summary: As a young boy, Seto Kaiba befriended a young girl named Kari. One day, she's kidnapped and unfortunately, dies. A few years later, you- Rachel Bakura- seem to remind Kaiba of Kari. Now, he has you help him figure out the mystery behind Kari's kidnapping


Seto walked into the orphanage, with Mokuba tugging at his shirt. The owner of the place smiled as he patted him on the back. "Welcome, Seto." Seto gave him a cold glare. Despite his sadness, anger took over.

Seto asked without acknowledging Mr. Morrison's welcome, "Where can we put these?" He gestured to the suitcases at his feet. Mr. Morrison rubbed his chin.

"I'll show you. Come children, I'll show you the rooms," he answered quickly while taking the lightest suitcase in his bony hands. Seto rolled his eyes and took the others, leaving his brother Mokuba clutching his own sweater.

"Seto, are we-"

"We'll be fine," Seto interrupted. As they followed Mr. Morrison down the narrow halls of the orphanage, Seto began to feel smaller and smaller. The large doors seemed giant. Mokuba whimpered a bit, but bit his tongue. Mr. Morrison was talking gibberish, so Seto didn't pay attention. Finally, they got to the boys' room.

"Here we are, boys. Mokuba, you can take that empty bed towards the middle and Seto you can take the bed near the window. Tell me if you need anything," Mr. Morrison said with some enthusiasm that was quite inappropriate. He set Seto's luggage on the bed and opened the window for ventilation. A cool breeze rippled over the made-up beds as Mr. Morrison made his way down the two rows of beds. He smiled at the boys and shut the large door behind him. Seto let out the breath he was holding as he threw himself on the bed. Mokuba stared at his brother while trying to compute the scenario.

"Can we go outside, Big Brother?" Mokuba played with the edge of his sweater. Seto looks at him and shrugged.

"We should probably unpack first," Seto suggested without an acid tone. Mokuba nodded as he hugged his brother around the waist. Seto's body relaxed into jello as he hugged Mokuba back. He couldn't let his brother see him unhappy. He had to stray strong for Mokuba... no matter what it took. As they started to unpack, Seto felt his heart hardening over. How could their parents just leave them alone? His father never got over his wife's death, but he didn't have to go to extremes... Mokuba tugged at Seto's shirt, snapping Seto out of his thoughts. "I'm done, Seto. Can I go outside?" Mokuba looked up Seto with his large glistening gray eyes. Seto nodded automatically.

"I'll go with you. I can finish up later." Seto took his brother's small hand and led him outside to the playground. All the children were playing in their respective groups. None of the children noticed the two new orphans. Mokuba pointed to the monkey bars.

"I'm going to play there, Seto," he said as he let go of Seto's hand and ran over. Seto watched him silently while shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. He wandered around the rest of the playground, silently observing the other kids. Seto noticed an open pen where many abandoned balls were left. Seto opened the door wider to look inside. Just as he was going to reach for a soccer ball, someone shoved him aside.

"Hey, watch it!" Seto shouted, covering his face from the dust.

The figure responded, "You should watch it, Newbie." Seto watched in awe as the girl who just shoved him took the very same soccer ball he reached for and adjusted her baseball cap. She turned around and confidently shouted some guy's name. "Get the gang together! We're playing!" Seto could tell she was telling to a whole group of kids and wondered if she was going to get them to beat him up. He scurried away, which made her laugh at him. "Idiot," she grinned to him as she ran to the other boys. Seto's eyes followed her to the soccer field where her and her gang played. He picked up another ball, which turned out to be a basketball. However, he wasn't in the mood to play anymore. He sighed heavy-heartedly and sat on a bench. Suddenly, a hand clamped itself on his shoulder.

"You ok kid?" The voice seemed friendly.

Seto replied, "I suppose so," he looked up, "who are you?" A boy around the age of 14 looked down at him with hazel eyes and blond hair.

"I'm Toya Kitzawa. I work in the kitchen when I saw you get pushed by Kari."

"Who?"

"Kari, that's the name of the girl who just pushed you. She's nothing to be afraid of. She's really nice."

"To you, no doubt. You're almost twice her size."

"She talks back to Mr. Morrison, so size doesn't matter in her eyes. Everything is about respect once you get down to brass tacks. She's smart, and she networks well."

"Do people actually think she's like... special or cool?"

"All the people here, especially the boys. She's known to be the heart-breaker of the orphanage." Seto looked back at Kari. She seemed harmless when she was 20 feet away. He folded his arms.

"I don't see anything special." Toya laughed.

"Of course you don't. However, if you do get to know her, which I know you're bound to, you will see. I have to get back to the kitchen. I'll see you at mealtime." Toya patted Seto on the shoulder again as he left through the back door. Seto watched Kari playing until he could stand her sweet-sounding laughter no more. He stood up and walked over to the sand box where Mokuba was playing alone. However, Seto could tell Mokuba was happy even though his only company was a watching bird.

"Hi Seto," Mokuba said contently.

"Hey Mokuba. What are you building?" Seto sat on the edge of the sandbox.

"A sandcastle. It's going to be big and giant!" Seto chuckled at his brother. Suddenly, an ominous shadow covered the both of them. Seto turned to it to see some boy around the age of 9 pouting down at him.

"Look at the Newbies," the boy snorted. Seto clenched his teeth; he wasn't in the mood to fight with anyone on his first day.

"Who are you?" Seto inquired.

"Does it mater, Newbie?" the boy responded. The boy walked over to Mokuba's castle and threw a rock at it, diminishing it to just dust.

Mokuba cried, "What did you do that for?" Seto got up to defend him.

"It was stupid," replied the boy. On top of the fact that he was mean, Seto couldn't get over the tremendous bulge around the boy's tummy area.

"How is a sandcastle stupid, kid?" Seto ground his teeth together, now angry. The boy has gone too far. "You're making fun of my little brother, you idiot!" The boy laughed.

"Can't curse, you son of a bitch?" Seto's eyes widened at the sounds of those words. The only person he's ever heard say that was his father when someone was being mean or something like that. Seto couldn't process it.

"You're going to get a time-out for that," Seto replied. The boy snickered again.

"Kari makes the rules on the playground and we're allowed to curse." _Again with this Kari,_ Seto thought angrily. Before he responded another set of footsteps joined in.

"What's going on over here?" Seto looked to see Kari standing with the soccer ball under her arm. However, unlike in the soccer field, she didn't look happy. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes narrowed at the boy. Seto felt the tension between the two kids.

"Hi Kari. I'm just showing the newbies the ways of the playground." Kari rolled her eyes.

"That's my job, last I checked. Why don't you ask Toya to raid the fridge?"

"I just came from there."

"Obviously," she gestured to the mustard stain on the boy's shirt.

"Why are you mean to me?"

"Why are you mean to others? I don't like you, dude," she responded. The boy pouted. The bad taste in Seto's mouth grew. "Besides, you destroyed the kid's sandcastle."

"It was broken."

Seto interjected, "He said it was stupid."

"Shut up," Kari commanded. She turned her attention to the offender. "Just leave us alone from now on. This kid is under my care, so I'll be calling the shots." The boy rolled his eyes. "That means you can't be mean to them. So go." She glared once more at him until he left in submission. Mokuba rubbed his eyes, trying to make the tears stop. Seto had his arm around his brother in attempts to console him. "It's ok, he's not going to bother you anymore," she said as she crouched in front of Mokuba. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief with some initials on it. She offered it to Mokuba with a smile.

Mokuba said as he took it, "Thank you. I'll give it back to you."

She smiled, "It's not even mine. I stole it from some guy on the street." Seto's face sank. _She stole it? She's not a good role model for Mokuba!_ Seto thought.

"Why did you defend us?" Seto inquired.

"Why shouldn't I? I don't really like that guy anyway." She shrugged as she flopped back onto her bottom. Seto watched her as she played a bit with the sand. "So who are you guys? I'm assuming you guys are new."

Seto nodded.

"That's nice. Welcome, I guess. I'm not too fond of the place. It's like a prison."

"I'm Seto, and this is my little brother Mokuba."

Mokuba asked abruptly, "How long have you been here?"

She shrugged. "I've lost track. I'm just weird like that, but it seems to be a long time."

Mokuba continued, "What happened to your family?" Seto nudged him in the side softly when he saw Kari's face drop a bit. He gave her an apologetic look because he felt her pain. However, she shrugged it off.

"I'm fine with it. I'm just not erm... comfortable talking about it." She awkwardly rubbed her arm.

Mokuba added, "It's ok, Kari. Our parents died too." Seto nudged him again but noticed Kari squirm as Mokuba said 'died too'. After a long awkward silence, Kari looked up with a renewed freshness.

"Do you guys want the grand tour of the place? Now that you're going to be living here for a while, you should know the entire place inside out. I have a gang that pretty much rules the playground." Seto raised his eyebrows in surprise. _She's in a gang already? Isn't that for grownups?_ Seto wondered.

Mokuba asked, "What do you do in this gang?"

"Eh, just whatever we want. Mr. Morrison can't say shit to us." Seto was even more blown away.

"Seto, can we join?!" Mokuba looked up into Seto's eyes pleadingly.

Kari put her hand up. "Whoa whoa whoa... you don't get in easily. You have to prove yourself. Okay, I'll go easy on you since that kid broke your sandcastle. Beat me at soccer and you're in. Hey that's a pretty good bet for a Newbie like you." Seto detected arrogance in her voice.

"Okay, sounds like a deal. That's if I win... what if I lose?" She pondered a bit, her eyes wandering up and down Seto's body. She clapped her hands once she got an idea.

"I got one. You have to do a dare, and not a crappy one either. I'll think of something good. If it makes you a legend around the playground, that's good. Everyone likes a legend," she grinned. Seto's stomach fell at the sound of it. If her confidence is that high, it must be that high for a reason. However, the fact that she's challenging him must show something of his skill. He grinned at her with a new brimming confidence.

"Okay, you have a deal Kari. Just don't cry when I beat you." She smirked back, obviously amused by his spirit. br br

"We'll see, Seto, we'll see..." She took his hand and lead him over to the soccer field. Let the games begin.


End file.
